The drama 'I Love Elementary School Students,' which dealt with the love between a teacher and an elementary school student, was ultimately canceled due to controversy.
The drama production company Metanewline announced on the 4th through a notice, "We have seriously considered the various concerns raised socially, and have decided to suspend the planning and production of the drama based on the webtoon 'I Love Elementary School Students.'"
Continuing, they noted, "We sincerely apologize to the writer for having to create new burdens even for the original work produced in 2015," and added, "We will humbly accept the changing social sensibilities and trends, and through this incident, we will do our best to create healthy and meaningful content with a more careful and responsible attitude."
This webtoon was serialized from 2015 to 2020 in platforms like Lezhin Comics. Concerns were raised not only about the title but also about a scene in which the protagonist, an elementary school teacher, feels excitement as a romantic interest towards a 5th-grade boy.
The controversy intensified recently when the webtoon production company C&C Revolution and the drama production company Metanewline signed a contract for video rights.
Teachers' organizations collectively urged the halt of the drama production. As reader protests surged, major webtoon platforms such as Naver Series and Kakao Page suspended sales of the webtoon the previous day.